Best Laid Plans
by nherbie
Summary: Get in, get the hostage, get out...quietly. At least that was the plan.


This story was inspired by a picture that ECO posted on Instagram of himself in a small plane. His caption talked about an escape plan from the zombie apocalypse but I figured a few bad guys with guns could be just as bad on any given day, right? I know nothing about flying so left it deliberately vague, when I did have to make some mention, I might have messed it up. Sorry about that! As with all my stories, I do not own NCIS:LA, any of it's characters but I do own every season on DVD!

Thanks to honus47 for reviewing. The suggestion was also made that this shouldn't be the end. I had originally planned on it just being this. Anyone else agree with honus47 that it should continue? Let me know!

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Chapter 1 (?)

The plan was to get in quietly, rescue the hostage and get out quietly. "Best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." Deeks muttered as he popped up to take a shot at one of the guys who currently had them pinned down. The team had been tasked with rescuing Naval Intelligence Officer Peter Russo from the Molina Cartel. Russo had been researching the cartel and was close to uncovering most, if not all, of their pipelines into the states as well as their ties to terrorist organizations like ISIS. They'd kidnapped him before he'd finished; both in an effort to shut him up and to find out how much he, and by extension, the naval intelligence community, knew.

NCIS OPS had been assigned to the case and the wonder twins, through online chatter and creative hacking, had been able to locate Russo in Mexico. The team had flown in on a small charter plane, driven to the house where Russo was being held, breached it, gotten the injured Russo out and driven back to the small airfield with minimal effort, only to be ambushed as soon as they exited the car. Deeks shook his head. If these guys had just waited until the team had approached the plane, they would've been able to easily take them all out. He was grateful that they were either impatient, stupid, or both. That was pretty much the only reason they were all still alive. Kensi popped up beside him and took a shot. They had dove into cover behind some ancient crates that were piled haphazardly around the airstrip. Unfortunately, so had the bad guys.

He looked over at Sam and Callen, pinned down a few yards from him and Kensi, the injured Russo plastered up against the crates, pale and sweaty. The cartel had worked him over pretty thoroughly, trying to determine exactly how much he knew and how much he had reported. The man had withstood the beatings but had admitted on the drive back to the airstrip that he'd been close to breaking. They had all praised him for holding on. Now if they could just follow through on the rescue, it would mean something.

Callen popped up and was able to take down one of the shooters. By his count, Deeks figured that left at least two more, if not three. He took a deep breath and popped up when the shooting paused and caught one of them in the throat. Okay, two down, one or two left. Kensi tapped his leg, he looked over and she motioned that she was going to try to circle behind the last shooters. He nodded and mimed he would give her cover. "Be careful! I love you." he mouthed at her.

She nodded and mouthed back "I will! You too. Love you." He nodded and prepared to lay down a suppression fire to allow her to make her move. On the unspoken count of three, he stood up and started firing while she scurried around the crates and out of his sight. As always, he felt a small shiver of alarm when he didn't have her in his sights, but his Kensi was the best at her job and would be fine, he had to believe that in order to keep doing his job. Seeing what Deeks and Kensi were up to, Callen and Sam joined in the distraction, firing wildly at the crates the cartel's men were hiding behind. Answering fire was the only indication they were still there.

When the return fire stopped and they heard Kensi yell "Clear!" they stopped their firing and cautiously stood up. She popped up from behind the crates the cartel had been using for cover with a big grin on her face. "They're all down. You sissies can stop hiding now." Deeks grinned back at her. His partner/girlfriend was not nicknamed Bad Ass Blye for nothing. He turned towards the rest of his team and caught a glimpse of something in the distance. Damn it, it looked like reinforcements for the cartel were on their way. He could see the plume of dust rising from the cars barreling down on their position. He figured they had ten minutes before the caravan got here, tops. They needed to leave. Now.

"Let's go!" he shouted and turned to run towards the plane, the rest of his team following, Sam and Callen practically carrying Russo. His heart dropped when he saw the body under the plane. The pilot was down. Kensi ran up to him and placed two fingers on his neck.

"He's alive but out cold from a blow to the back of the head. He won't be flying the plane any time soon!" she told the team when they caught up to her. Deeks stuck his head in the plane, no keys. He knelt down and searched the pilot's pockets, no keys. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that the plume of dust was getting closer.

"Kens, you once told me you could hotwire a plane. Did you mean it?" he asked

"Of course I meant it, but what good will it do? I can hotwire it but I can't fly it!

Deeks looked at Sam and Callen, both of whom shook their heads no. Damn it! This meant it was up to him. He'd wanted to keep this a secret. He'd planned to surprise Kensi over the Christmas break by flying her to Lake Tahoe where they would spend several days at a romantic, out of the way place he had stumbled on a few years ago. Then, when the time was right, he had planned on proposing. The ring was sitting in his safe deposit box right now. He sighed and muttered again "Best laid plans…." Louder he said to Kensi "Do it!"

She jumped into the plane and made short work of getting it started. Hopping out, she looked at him quizzically. 'Ok, it's running. Now what?"

"Everyone get in. I'll fly us out of here." He replied.

Sam balked. "There is no way I'm getting into a plane that you're flying Shaggy! I value my life."

Deeks looked at him and said "Fine Sam. You can stay here and argue _that_ , with _them_." He pointed over his left shoulder. Sam's eyes went in the direction he pointed and swore. He looked at Callen who only shrugged in return. It wasn't like they had much choice. Their car was shot to hell, the pilot was down for the count and they were low on ammunition. Sighing, they helped Russo into the plane and then the three men dragged the pilot out from under the plane and wrestled his unconscious body into the seat next to him. Kensi and Callen got into the middle seats and Sam into the front. Deeks hopped up into the pilot's seat.

"You kill me and Michelle will….no… _Kamran_ will never forgive you!" Sam pulled out the big guns. He knew the detective adored his little girl and the threat of her never forgiving him would carry more weight than siccing his ex-CIA wife on him.

Deeks looked at him and mock shuddered. Looking down, he found a clipboard between the seats. Picking it up he quickly ran through the paperwork attached to it. "Good. He already did the preflight check and the plane is fully gassed. He also filed a flight plan back to L.A. that we can use." He handed the clipboard to Sam and turned to the back of the plane. "Everyone buckle up. Russo, buckle up the pilot for us. Also, put your earphones on so we can talk." Everyone complied.

Deeks turned back and began the sequence to get the plane moving and into the air. Sam watched him, amazed that he seemed to know exactly what he was doing as he threw switches and began to maneuver the plane onto the runway. "How _exactly_ do you know how to fly a plane?" he asked. The rest of the team, Kensi especially, leaned forward in anticipation of his answer. He risked a look over his shoulder and saw that she looked angry with him. Great, she was going to be pissed that he had kept this from her and he wouldn't be able to tell her the whole reason why, not unless he planned on proposing here and now.

"I started talking lessons almost a year ago. I've got my pilot's license and have almost 200 solo hours under my belt. And before anyone asks, yes, Hetty knows and approved of it."

"What made you decide to learn how to fly?" Callen asked.

"It reminds me of surfing. You're free and flying through air instead of water. I find it very peaceful to be up in a plane, just me and the open sky."

"Isn't it expensive? You don't own your own plane, do you?" Sam asked.

"Hell no, I rent by the hour from the school I learned at. Guy who owns it is an ex-cop and gives me a pretty good discount. Now, if the interrogation is over, would anyone else like to get the hell out of Mexico _before_ Molina's guys get here and make sure we don't?"

Four very enthusiastic yeses were his answer. He increased the speed of the plane and, when it reached the right velocity, gently eased the plane off the ground. Once he reached cruising height, he leveled off and entered the heading from the flight plan. He and Sam exchanged a grin. "We're home free unless…" he paused and had a bad thought…"they have missile launchers." It wasn't beyond the realm of possibility with this cartel. It was heavily armed and very wealthy. They all immediately turned to look out their windows, scanning the air behind them back to the airstrip. They could see the caravan of black SUVs careen onto the landing strip, trying to follow them but it was way too late. Luckily, nothing was speeding through the air their way. Turning back to the front, they all gave a relieved laugh, amused at themselves that they had even thought it. "Ok, by my estimation, we should be back in L.A. in about a half hour." he told everyone.

Sam clapped him on the shoulder. "Good job Shaggy. I guess you come in handy now and again."

"Ha ha. Thanks a whole lot Sam. Maybe I should have left you back there on the airstrip?"

Sam cocked his head and said "Kamran?"

"Oh, yeah. I guess she wouldn't have been too pleased to find out I left her daddy in Mexico with a bunch of bad guys."

"I think Hetty might have taken issue with it as well, Deeks." Callen just had to put in his two cents. Deeks looked back at him, a fake look of dismay on his face that quickly turned real when he moved his eyes to meet Kensi's. She had her arms folded across her chest and a steely look in her eyes. He knew this look only too well and it didn't bode well for him.

"Kens? Fern? Sugar bear? Light of my life?"

"We _will_ be talking about this later!" she said. He knew she hated it when he kept secrets from her. He also had a feeling the talk about risky behavior would come up, that's one of the reasons why he had preemptively mentioned that Hetty had approved and even encouraged his learning how to fly. He stopped at that thought. She couldn't have known that he'd need it today, could she? Nope. Not going there.

The rest of the short trip was taken up with a rehash of the mission, gentle ribbing between the teammates making Russo smile through his pain. When they were on final approach to the small airstrip they had left from not so long ago, Deeks got the tower on the radio. "This is Whiskey, Tango, Charlie, 2, 3, 7, 4 requesting permission to land per flight plan." Sam looked over at him with raised eyebrows. Deeks tapped the clipboard Sam still had in his hands. At the top were the call letters for the small plane. Sam hadn't noticed them but Deeks had. Deeks was relieved that he had been to this airstrip before and was familiar with landing here. When they had left from here this morning, it hadn't seemed important.

"Whisky, Tango, Charlie, 2, 3, 7, 4 you are cleared to land on runway number 2. Stevie, is that you? It doesn't sound like you."

"No, Stevie was hurt and I'm flying the plane. Chris, is that you?"

"Yeah. Wait, is that you Deeks? What the hell? How bad is Stevie?"

"Bad enough. Can you call and have two ambulances meet us at the runway? We have another injured as well."

"You got it!"

Deeks aimed the plane at the specified runway and started to decrease airspeed and altitude. While the rest of his team had been impressed that he seemed to know how to fly the plane, landing was something altogether different. Everyone held onto something for dear life as the ground seemed to rush up at them, half-jokingly mumbling prayers to all the powers that be, promising anything in return for a safe landing. He sighed and concentrated on making this the softest landing in his somewhat short pilot's career. He touched down without a bump and gently brought the plane to a taxiing speed. He maneuvered it off the runway and over towards the hangars, heading for the one with two ambulances waiting by it. He stopped and realized he had no idea how to turn off the plane. He turned and asked Kensi "Ok, Miss Hotwire 2015, how do I turn it off?"

She rolled her eyes at him, unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned forward, disconnecting two of the wires that were twisted together and the plane shut down. He grinned at her and she tried hard not to smile back. "I'm still mad that you kept this a secret from me. At least now I know where you went all those times you'd disappear for hours. You said you were surfing but I knew something was up. Why would you keep something like this a secret? It's not like it's something bad!"

Deeks looked around the plane, noting that everyone, including Russo, was waiting for his reply. "Um, can we talk about this later Kens? I think we should get the injured off the plane and into the waiting ambulances." He noticed that Russo seemed disappointed that he wouldn't get to hear the reason. Laughing, Deeks said "I'll fill you in later Russo. I think you earned the answer to that question. I just think I need it to be between Kensi and me first."

Peter laughed and then groaned when his sides and ribs protested. That was enough to get everyone in motion. They all hopped out of the plane and helped the paramedics ease Russo out and then get the still unconscious pilot out of the back. Callen agreed to ride with Russo as protection duty and the rest of his team watched the ambulances drive away, headed towards Pacific Beach Medical. They would follow and meet up with him there.

Sam turned from watching his partner disappear and pulled Deeks into a hug. Letting him go he said "You really came through for us today Deeks. Color me impressed!"

Deeks smiled back, compliments from Sam were not lightly given and therefore, meant more than those from some others. He laughed a little and said "Ok, who's going to tell _Stevie_ we hotwired his plane and flew it back here without his permission and that his keys are most likely somewhere in the middle of an airstrip in Mexico? One that's controlled by a drug cartel with links to terrorism."

Kensi and Sam turned away and hot footed it over to where their cars were parked. Sam reached the Challenger first and peeled out. Kensi was not so fortunate, she and Deeks had come together and she couldn't just leave him there. After all, he was the reason they were safely back in the states. She looked back, expecting to find him right on her tail but he had turned back to the plane. She watched as he conscientiously went through the post flight check list and neatened up the plane. Another man approached and she watched them do the bro hug thing. Obviously they knew each other. Another thing that they would need to discuss. The two men chatted for a moment and the stranger had nodded his head, giving Deeks something to sign. He did so and then, finally, made his way to the car where she was waiting.

When he got in, she pounced on him, kissing him breathless. When she let him go, he laughed and asked "What was that for? I thought you were mad at me."

"I am mad at you! But I also know it was because of you that we all got home safely. I'm proud of you Deeks. Really proud. Just a little sad that this wasn't something you wanted to share with me."

"I did, I mean, I do want to share it with you Kensalina! It was just that…I wanted to be sure I could do it and that I'd stick with it before I surprised you with your first flight with your pilot boyfriend. I wanted to impress you a little, I guess." He had decided honesty was the best policy and figured she didn't need to know about Tahoe and the ring. That he could still surprise her with.

"I _am_ impressed. Will you take me with you soon? You really sounded happy when you were describing how it makes you feel. I'd like to experience that as well, without bad guys shooting at us or injured passengers that we're rushing to get to safety."

"Of course! I wanted to be sure I was as safe a pilot as possible before I took any chances with you. I set my goal at 200 solo hours and then I was going to take you up. I'm only about 15 hours short; I guess that's close enough?"

She smiled at him and his heart flipped like it always did when she was happy with him. "I'd love that! This weekend?"

"You're on partner. I'll make a few calls tonight, get us a plane and flight plan."

She leaned over and kissed him again, only this time she didn't stop so quickly. When they did finally pull apart he asked dazedly "Do you think we should head to the hospital? Sam is probably already there by now and wondering where we are. You know he's going to be making up all kinds of things in his head and will have no compunction about sharing them with us _and_ Callen!"

Kensi looked at him, just as dazed as he was and replied. "Huh?"

She blinked a few times and his delighted smile came into focus. She punched him gently on the arm and said "Let's get to the hospital partner."


End file.
